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WHICH:  ..::^^ 

American  Unity,  or 

British  Domination? 


Memorial  Address  at  Antrim,  N.  H.,  May  30,  1893. 


BY    HENRY    B.  ATHERTON    OF    NASHUA,  N.    H. 


Price  palil  to  Preserve  the  Union. 

Comrades  and  Friends : 

In  the  war  for  the  Union  New  Hamp- 
shire had  33,937  enlisted  men,  or,  reduced 
to  a  three  years'  standard  30,849.  That 
was  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  our  whole 
population,  and  more  than  half  of  the 
male  population  between  the  ages  of  18 
and  45.  In  other  words  one  out  of  every 
9.6  men,  women  and  children,  or  one  for 
every  two  households  in  the  state,  en- 
listed in  defence  of  the  Union.  Of  this 
number  4,882  or  16.7  per  cent,  died  in 
the  service.  There  were  killed  or  mortally 
wounded  1963  or  6.5  per  cent,  a  percen- 
tage of  killed  exceeded  by  only  two 
states,  Vermont  and  Pennsylvania. 

The  total  number  enrolled  in  the  Un- 
ion army  wa?  2,326,168  and  of  them 
110,070,  or  4.7  per  cent,  were  killed  or 
died  of  their  wounds.  The  deaths  in  the 
service  from  all  causes  was  369,528  or  15.4 
per  cent.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  when 
a  man  volunteered  for  the  suppression  of 
the  rebellion  he  took  one  chance  in  20  of 
being  killed  in  battle  and  one  chance  in 
6  of  dying  in  the  service. 

The  average  age  of  the  men  in  the  Un- 
ion army  was  25  years.  Of  those  who 
successfully  passed  their  medical  exam- 
ination at  enlistment  the  average  expec- 
tation of  life  was  40  years.  Here  was  a 
shortening  of  his  life  by  40  years  of  each 
one  of  359,528  men  who  died  in  the  ser- 
vice, or  a  loss,  taken  collectively,  of  14,- 
381,120  years  of  human  life,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  those  who  died  of  disease  or 
wounds  after  their  discharge. 

To  each  one  of  these  life  was  as  sweet 
as  to  you  or  me.  This  was  the  price  our 
fallen  comrades  paid  for  the  restoration 
of  the  Union.  By  the  side  of  this  appall- 
ing sacrifice  of  human  life,  the  destruc- 
tion of  property  and  the  waste  of  treas- 
ure sink  into  insignificance.  Even  the 
annual  disbursement  for  pensions  to  the 
survivors  and  to  the  widows  and  depen- 
dent relatives  of  those  who  died,  about 
which  there  is  now  so  much  patriotic, 


not  to  say  political,  concern  and  anxiety, 
dwindles  to  nothing  in  comparison. 
Nobody  is  conscious  of  any  sacrifice  in 
making  those  payments.  If  anybody's 
property  or  income  is  diminished  by  it, 
the  loss  IS  imperceptible  to  him.  Our 
comrades  gave  14,391,120  years  of  their 
lives  that  we  might  individually  and 
collectively  as  a  people -have  the  pros- 
perity we  now  enjoy. 

I  have  spoken  only  of  those  who  died 
in  the  service.  Others  of  our  comrades 
also  made  sacrifices;  some  in  Impaired 
health  and  shortened  lives  and  the  con- 
sequent inabiliiy  to  provide  for  them- 
selves and  their  families  as  they  other- 
wise might.  Some  left  school  and  gave 
up  the  hope  of  a  higher  education.  Many 
lost  the  opportunity  to  make  for  them- 
selves fortunes,  as  those  who  remained  at 
home  could  do,  in  trade,  maaufactures  or 
finance.  They  lost  also  in  many  caoes  the 
chance  for  political  preferment.  This 
may  be  contrary  to  the  general  impres- 
sion and  seems  a  little  singular  in  a  state 
where  patriotism  was  never  at  a  dis- 
count. A  glance  at  some  of  the  state 
offices  filled  since  1861  will  I  think 
sustain  the  statement.  Of  372  state 
senators  chosen  in  that  period 
I  recognize  the  names  of  only  about  a 
dozen  who  were  in  the  service;  of  17 
speakers  of  the  house  only  two;  of  24 
presidents  of  the  senate,  none;  of  six  at- 
torney generals,  one;  of  ten  railroad  com- 
missioners, none;  of  45  councillors,  only 
three  or  four;  of  19  appointments  to  the 
bench  of  the  supreme  and  supreme  judi- 
cial courts,  one;  and  of  17 governors, only 
two.  And  yet  it  will  hardly  be  claimed 
that  the  46  per  cent,  of  the  men  of  a  mil- 
itary ago  in  New  Hampshire  who,through 
physical  infirmity  or  from  prudential 
reasons  remained  at  home,  had  on  an  av- 
erage more  ability,  character  or 
ism  than  the  64  per  cent,  who  we;: 
front.  Thus  in  this  state  at/^st,  Wo 
seems  that  the  (opportunity  foi^olitical  « 
preferment  was  another  sacrinee  which  « 
the  public  spirited  volunteer  mm^  when,^ 
I  he  enlisted.  x.''      \^^^ 


AMKIUCAN    UNITY    OH    URITISII    DOMINATION? 


There  were  many  minor  personal  in- 
conveniences and  hardships  also  which  he 
was  called  upon  to  undergo.  He  relin- 
quished the  comforts  of  ho;ne,  the  com- 
panionship of  friends,  the  .'reedom  of 
civil  life  and  voluntarily  took  upon  him- 
self the  deprivations  of  a  life  in  camp  and 
on  the  march,  and  a  ready  Hubmission  to 
the  command  of  his  superior  officers.  He 
underwent  exposure  to  heat  and  cold,  to 
rain  and  snow,  miasma  and  disease  under 
conditions  where  he  could  do  but  little  to 
protect  himself. 

Was  it  Worth  the  CoBt  ? 

Looking  back  after  the  lapse  of  thirty 
years,  was  it  our  duty  to  do  whr.t  in  our 
old  time  enthusiasm  we  then  believed  it 
was?  Was  the  preservation  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union  worth  all  the  sacrifice,  all 
the  waste  of  treasure  and  human  life 
which  it  cost?  Was  that  war  for  freedom 
and  humanity  worth  fighting?  The  gov- 
ernment of  tue  United  States  could  have 
chosen  the  other  alternative  and  permit- 
ted state  after  state  at  the  South  to  se- 
cede. We  could  have  recognized  the  in- 
dependence of  the  new  Confederacy,  the 
corner  stone  of  which,  according  to  Alex- 
ander H.  Stephens  its  vice  president,  was 
human  slavery.  We  could  pusillani- 
mously  have  abandoned  the  border  states 
and  treachously  have  turned  our  backs 
upon  the  Union  men  of  the  South.  We 
might  have  permitted  the  dismember- 
ment of  this  Union  and  consented  to  the 
peaceful  establishment  of  a  rival  govern- 
ment within  its  limits.  If  we  had  waited 
until  the  new  Confederacy  was  well  or- 
ganized, armed,  and  fortified,  with  a  full 
treasury  and  possibly  a  strong  foreign 
alliance,  and  it  had  then  demanded  the 
territories  and  the  Prcific  slope  for  the 
further  extension  of  slavery,  we  should 
have  been  still  less  able  to  resist  these  de- 
mands of  the  Confederacy  grown  strong 
and  powerful.  The  aggressions  of  the 
South  would  have  become  every  day  more 
and  more  insolent  and  overbearing,  until 
the  remaining  fragment  of  the  old  Union 
bad  been  either  ingloriously  subjugated, 
or  at  last,  when  shorn  of  territory,  treas- 
ure and  men,  it  would  have  been  goRded 
into  armed  resistance  to  these  encroach- 
ments. In  the  latter  event  it  would  have 
been  war  at  last  with  the  odds  against 
the  Union  cause  greatly  increased  by  the 
delay. 

Even  if  this  latter  alternative  had  been 
averted  to  the  present  time,  and  we,  too 
timid  to  assert  our  righrts  and  too  cow- 
ardly to  do  our  duty,  had  deferred  the 
issue  for  a  generation  and  left  to  our 
children,  with  our  tarnished  honor,  a 
divided  heritage  and  a  war  yet  to  be 
waged,  the  situation  would  not  be  a 
pleasant  one  for  ub  to  contemplate. 

The  Other  Alternative. 
We  should  now  behold  one  people  of  the' 
same  deBcent,Bpeuking  the  same  language,! 


possesEilng  the  same  common  law,  the 
same  literature  and  history,  broken  into 
two  or  more  fragments  with  separate 
governments  and  rival  and  con- 
flicting interests,  ready  to  fly  at  each 
others  throats  on  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion and  each  always  a  prey  to  tl.e  politi- 
cal interference  and  intrigues  of  any 
foreign  power,  which  in  order  to  divide 
and  conquer  us  might  desire  to  make  the 
separation  between  the  sections  peima- 
nent.  We  should  see  a  row  of  cuBtora 
houses  and  military  posts  along  the 
Chesapeake,  the  Ohio,  the  Missouri,  across 
the  plains  and  over  the  mountains  to  the 
Pacific  along  an  imaginary  line  between 
two  rival  and  antagonistic  states. 

The  inland  commerce  of  the  western 
rivers  would  be  passing  through  foreign 
territory  to  reach  the  Gulf  or  the  Atlan- 
tic. The  people  would  be  supporting  the 
burden  of  two  governments  where  now 
but  one  exists.  To  this  would  be  added 
the  expense  of  vast  standing  armies,  as 
in  Europe,  in  which  the  mpn  would  serve 
while  the  women  tilled  the  fields.  Two 
navies  would  be  needed  each  larger  than 
the  one  we  now  have.  The  car  of  prog- 
ress would  be  halted.  The  hands  on  the 
dial  of  time  would  move  downward  show- 
ing that  the  mid  day  of  the  world's 
civilization  had  passed.  Retrogression 
would  be  the  order  of  the  day.  Liberty 
would  take  flight,  free  institutions 
would  cease  to  exist  and  that  state  whose 
corner  stone  was  the  hideous  wrong  of 
chattel  slavery  would  soon  elevate  to 
power  the  despot  and  tyrant. 

But  this  country  could   not  be  thus  di- 
vided and  continue    half    free    and  half 
pro-slavery,  half  on  the  pathway  of  mod-  , 
t  rn   civilization  and    half   incorporating ,' 
the  barbarism  of    slavery   and   gradually  1 
reverting  to  monarchy  or  some   form  of  1 
absolute  government.     It    is    more  than 
probable  that  in  the  North,  also,   human 
freedom  and  the  rights   of  the  individual 
would      at      last      be      sacrificed,     the 
light  of  civilization  become   obscure  and 
the    hopes    of   the   oppressed  and  down- 
trodden everywhere  die  out. 

As  this  country  could  not  remain  half 
slave  and  half  free  so  it  could  not  long 
continue  half  Confederate  and  half  Union. 
The  spirit  of  secession,  let  loose  and  given 
free  rein,  all  respect  for  written  statutes 
and  constitutions  would  ctase.  Selflsh 
interest,  unreasoning  prejudice,  momen- 
tary impulse  would  rise  superior  to  the 
law.  Personal  differences  would  be  per- 
petuated in  Corsican  vendettas  and  Ken- 
tucky feuds.  Lynch  law,  illegal  shooting 
and  hanging,  torture  and  burning  alive 
as  recently  practiced  in  the  South  might 
prevail  and  thus,  imperceptibly  perhaps 
but  none  the  less  certainly,  conduct  so- 
ciety backward  to  the  horrid  cruelties 
and  fiendish  barbarism  of  the  medieval 
persecutions. 
Instead  of  a  comparatively  short,  sharp 


AMERICAN    UNITY    OR   BRITISH    DOMINATION? 


and  decisive  conflict  in  the  beginning,  as 
the  war  for  the  Union  really  was,  we 
should  have  entailed  for  ourselves  and 
our  children  after  us  an  Interminable 
struggle  growing  each  year  loore  barbar- 
ous in  its  c'laracter.  Possibly  In  the 
North,  as  already  In  the  Souuh,  the  bal- 
lot, as  the  expression  of  the  v/ill  of  a  sov- 
ereign people  would  no  Ioniser  be  held 
sacred,  and  fraud  and  force,  lalse  counts 
and  the  shot  gun  would  usurp  its  place. 
Elections  would  be  carried  by  fear  and 
intimidation,  until  elections  even  in  form 
would  be  no  longer  held,  and  i  score  of 
military  tyrants,  under  the  guise  of  seek- 
ing to  preserve  order,  would  nold  place 
and  power  as  the  result  of  succetisful  revo- 
lution. 

Our  Present  Prosperity. 

Hold  your  gaze  for  a  moment  on  this 
dark  picture  of  what  might  have  been  in 
order  that  you  may  the  more  clearly  real- 
ize what  our  comrades  did  for  the  wel- 
fare of  this  people — that  by  the  contrast 
you  may  the  more  distinctly  see  the  bles- 
sings secured  to  the  inhabitants  of  this 
country  by  the  successful  prosecution  of 
the  war  for  the  Union. 

Look  now  on  the  American  Union  pre- 
served—65,000,000  of  people  at  peace  with 
one  another  and  all  the  world — each  one 
free  to  pursue  his  own  honest  calling  in 
his  own  way — peace  and  plenty  within 
our  borders — the  hand  of  this  free  gov- 
ernment resting  so  lightly  upon  us  that 
wo  cannot  feel  it — no  honest  man  afraid 
of  the  civil  power — every  branch  of  hu- 
man industry  multiplying  ana  extending 
— education  diffused  and  reaching  further 
and  further  every  year — a  broad  belt  of 
fertile  territory  extending  from  ocean  to 
ocean  through  the  temperate  zone,  with 
every  variety  of  climate  and  production 
that  civilized  man  can  desire — separated 
by  thousands  of  miles  of  trackless  ocean 
from  the  great  military  powers  of 
Europe. 

It  would  seem  that  here  and  now 
the  highest  problems  in  self-government 
and  civilization  are  to  be  wrought  out 
to  a  successful  issue.  No  where  else  and 
at  no  other  time  from  the  very  nature  of 
things  can  the  conditions  be  so  favorable. 
A  free  country  where  every  man  has  fair 
play  and  equal  opportunity.  The  love  of 
liberty  has  invited  the  best  of  all  lands  to 
our  shores.  The  dismal  exception  now 
and  again  only  proves  the  general  rule. 
They  come  educated  by  labor,  instructeu 
by  travel,  animated  and  impelled  by  a  love 
of  free  institutions,  they  expect  here  to 
better  their  condition.  When  they  reach 
our  shores  the  yoke  is  lifted  from  their 
necks.  They  are  no  longer  the  personal 
thralls  of  mercenary  lords  or  lordlings. 
They  are  no  longer  subjected  to  time- 
honored  abases  or  the  tyranny  of  ancient 
privilege.  When  their  feet  touch  Ameri- 
can soil  the    hideous  nightmare  which 


1 


tends  to  cramp  body  and  soul   in  the  old 
world  is  dispelled. 

The  liook  Ahead 

Here  on  this  continent  we  are  building 
up  a  mighty  and  masterful  race,  superior 
to  any  the  world  has  ever  yet  produced. 
The  American  of  the  future  we  may  be- 
lieve, will  unite  in  himself  the  best  char- 
acteristics of  all  the  superior  races — the 
administrative  power  of  the  Norman — the 
fidelity  of  the  Teuton,  the  battle  fury  of 
the  Celt  as  well  as  his  poetic  imagination 
— the  love  of  fair  play  of  the  Englishman 
united  to  the  sturdy  good  sense  of  the 
Scotsman,  and  a  physique  correspond- 
ingly superior  to  all  who  have  gone  be- 
fore— sound  minds  in  sound  bodies, 
<<mens  sana  In  corpore  sano." 

With  a  population  thus  composed, 
which  increases  a  hundred  fold  every 
twenty- five  years,  some  of  you  now  liv- 
ing may  expect  to  see  a  hundred  and  fif- 
ty millions  of  inhabitants  in  this  country, 
and  the  grandchildren  of  our  grandchil- 
dren, a  population  as  great  as  that  of  the 
whole  world  today — or  reckoning  safely 
enough  that  this  territory  can  sustain  a 
population  one  half  as  dense  as  that  of 
Belgium,  our  grandchildren  will  live  to 
see  here  a  people  numbering  seven  hun- 
dred millions. 

A  recent  brilliant  French  writer  says  of 
America,  <«in  fifty  years  she  will  have 
more  than  two  hundred  millions  of  in- 
habitants. If  during  that  time  Europe 
makes  progress  only  in  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, while  the  social  condition  of  its 
nations  does  not  improve,  she  will  be  to 
America  what  barbarism  is  to  civiliza- 
tion." This  is  not  the  exaggeration  of  a 
poet's  vision  nor  the  wild  dream  of  an 
optimist,  but  the  sober  conclusion  of  a 
thoughtful  observer. 

Bo  far  as  we  can  conjecture  or  the  hu  - 
man  mind  can  conceive,  only  those  three 
scourges  of  the  human  race,  famine,  pes- 
tilence or  war^  can  prevent  the  fulfilment 
of  this  forecast. 

As  to  the  danger  of  any  widespread 
famine,  our  fertile  soil  and  the  great  va- 
riety of  its  products,  and  our  facili- 
ties for  their  quick  transportation, 
coupled  with  our  Individual  intelligence, 
prosperity  and  self  control,  make  the 
peril  from  that  source  remote  indeed. 
We  have  long  since  passed  that  utage  in 
oar  development  as  a  people  when  wc 
could  reasonably  apprehend  danger  from 
that  source. 

What  the  future  has  in  store  for  us  in 
the  nature  of  pestilence  no  human  mind 
can  forsee.  A  comparatively  harmless 
appearing  Infiuenza  may  become  as  fatal 
as  Asiatic  cholera  or  threaten  the  distruc- 
tion  of  the  population  of  the  whole  globe. 
We  can  imagine  such  a  possibility.  >  But 
with  the  spread  of  education  and  Its 
thousand  civilizing  influences,  with  the 
constant  improvement   both   In  sanitary 


6 


AMRlllCAN    UNITV    OH    nRITISM    DOMINATION? 


and  hygienic  conditionn,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  diaenso  and  the  healing  art, 
and  with  our  remarl^ahly  healthful  cli- 
mate, wf  have  little  to  fear  from  any 
wide  Hpread  or  long  continued  pestilence. 

War  ? 

But  of  war  who  can  say?  Because  to- 
day the  sun  shines  are  we  to  believe  the 
storm  will  never  come?  The  miilenwium 
however  much  we  may  wish  it,  has  not 
yet  dawned.  The  lamb  cannot  yet  lie 
down  with  the  lion  in  any  degree  of 
safety  to  the  lamb.  Europe  does  not 
support  the  almost  intolerable  burden  of 
her  vast  standing  armies  for  the  pleasure 
of  it.  When  in  the  midst  of  that  im- 
mense powder  magazine  some  sceptered 
hand  shall  ruthlessly  strilce  the  spark 
that  will  spread  desolation  far  and  wide, 
when  Europe  is  again  reeking  with 
carnage  and  slaughter,  what  guarranty 
have  we  that  our  own  country  may  not 
become  involved? 

As  often  at  least  as  once  in  a  genera- 
tion this  peoQle  thus  far  have  engaged  in 
war,  so  that  ;rom  father  to  son  each  gen- 
eration in  turn  has  had  the  opportunity 
to  thus  offer  that  supreme  service  to  their 
country.  We  helped  to  put  down  the  Re- 
bellion. Our  fathers  fought  England  in 
1812.  Their  fathers  again  fought  Eng- 
land in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  to 
establish  an  independent  Continental 
power  in  North  America.  Such  a  govern- 
ment was  established  but  it  fell  short  of 
the  original  design  because  it  failed  to 
embrace  the  whole  continent.  The 
French  settlements  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
under  the  control  of  their  bishop  de- 
clined to  unite  their  fortune^  with  those 
of  the  young  Republic.  The  fathers  of 
the  Revolutionary  heroes  fought  for  Con- 
tinental unity  in  the  French  and  Indian 
wars.  Frequently  the  same  generation 
has  served  in  more  than  one  war.  Stark 
learned  something  of  the  art  of  war  as  a 
prisoner  under  his  Indian  captors  in 
Canada,  later,  as  one  of  Rogers'  Rangers  in 
the  French  war,  before  he  commanded  a 
regiment  of  New  Hampshire  troops  at 
Bunker  Hill  or  led  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys  at  Bennington.  Scott  fought  in  the 
war  of  1812,  the  Mexican  war,  and  lived  to 
take  a  part  in  the  opening  scenes  of  the 
war  for  the  Union. 

I  remember  meeting  in  the  service  at 
Alexandria  during  the  Rebellion  an 
artilleryman  who  had  served  In  Ringold's 
famous  battery  in  the  Mexican  war. 
His  service,  I  recollect,  in  the  land  of  the 
Montezumas  bad  developed  a  peculiar 
and  rather  startling  kind  of  patriotism 
as  exhibited  in  his  oaths.  Unlike  the 
Greeks  who  swore  "by  all  the  gods  at 
once,"  his  deities  were  exclusively 
of  this  Continent.  Apparently  his 
favorite  oath  was  '>By  the  groat  North  ^ 
American  Jehovah."  In  his  mind  Jeho- ' 
Tab  was  as  much  the  peculiar  deity  of  the , 


northern  portion  of  this  continent  at  h« 
had  been  originally  of  the  HebrewH,  md 
evidently  to  him  the  whole  United  8ltt(i 
was  "God's  country"  as  was  the  loyii 
section  of  it  to  the  prisontr  in  Anderson- 
ville  or  Salisbury.  While  I  deprecated 
his  profanity  I  had  a  hearty  reHpect  (or 
his  continental  patriotism. 

In  the  UHual  course  of  events  sufficient 
time  has  elapsed  for  this  people  to  b« 
again  engaged  in  war.  But  for  the  valor 
which  you,  my  comrades,  and  others  like 
you  dinplayeri  on  many  a  well  fought 
field  this  nation  would  have  been  again 
engaged  in  war  long  before  now.  In- 
deed it  is  not  probable  that  the  Alabama 
claims  would  ever  have  been  arhiirated 
or  paid  by  England  had  there  not  betn  a 
million  or  more  disciplined  soldiers  in 
this  country  at  the  time.  Even  as  it  was 
a  large  section  of  the  Tory  party  were 
eager  to  flght.  Wii  have  another  arbitra- 
tion on  hand  now  but  the  situation  is 
changed.  Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheri- 
dan are  dead.  We  should  not  be  worth 
BO  much  in  offensive  military  operations 
as  we  were  twenty-five  years  ago  but  I 
think  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  dis- 
ciplined men  could  still  be  found  who 
would  volunteer  to  do  the  state  some  ser- 
vice in  case  any  v  T  the  great  powers 
should  attempt  the  invasion  of  this 
country. 

According  to  the  statisticians  the 
United  States  has  more  wealth  than  Great 
Britain,  hitherto  regarded  the  wealthiest 
country  in  the  world,  and  we  have  nearly 
double  her  population.  But  undefended 
wealth  invites  to  attack  and  nobody 
knows  better  than  you  who  were  in  the 
service  that  a  thousand  well  drilled 
soldiers  are  more  than  a  match  for  a  mob 
of  ten  thousand  untrained  men.  An 
efficient  army,  modern  fortifications,  guns 
and  battle  ships  necessary  for  the  nation- 
al defense  cannot  be  improvised  in  a  day. 
Uniiounded  wealth  will  not  do  it;  an  im- 
mense population  is  insufficient.  It  takes 
the  element  of  time  to  transform  the  raff 
recruit  into  a  soldier  and  to  change 
monf-y  into  ships  and  forts.  Such  guns 
as  Krupp  makes  and  the  English  have  on 
some  of  their  forts  that  will  carry  a  pro- 
jectile twelve  or  fourteen  miles  it  takes  a 
year  to  build.  It  takes  two  or  three  years 
to  build  a  battle  ship.  We  have  a  few 
armed  cruisers  that  compare  favorably 
with  anything  afioat.  We  shall  have 
more  soon  and  a  battle  ship  or  two  so 
necessary  for  defence.  We  have  none  yet. 
Our  regular  army  is  small,  hardly  suflS- 
cient  to  keep  in  subjection  a  few  hostile 
Indians  and  anarchists,  but  answering 
very  well  for  police  purpobcs.  We  have  as 
yet  no  coast  defences  worth  mentioning. 
A  few  old  fashioned  stone  forts  and  tor- 
pedo boats  will  hardly  suffice  to  protect 
our  ten  thousand  miles  of  coast,  and  on 
our  four  thousand  miles  of  northern 
frontier  we  have  no  defences  at  all. 


AMEIMCAN    UNITY    OR    BUITISII    DOMINATION? 


The  prosi)ect  o(  an  offensive  war  on  oir 
part  uiultT  Bucb  circumstances  agaii  st 
gnv  of  the  first -class  powers  o( 
the  earth  is  re  note  indeed — an  renaote  as 
the  prospect  of  pestilence  or  famine.  As 
yet  we  are  in  no  condition  to  wage  such  a 
war.  We  cannot  in  the  words  of  Bis- 
mark  "strilie  the  striker"  nor  "insult  the 
insulter."  Should  Germany,  for  in- 
stance, smite  us  on  one  cheek  we  may  in 
a  spirit  of  Christian  humility  (making  a 
virtue  of  our  necessity)  turn  the  other 
also.  We  can  spare  no  vessels  to  send 
against  her  shores,  we  have  no  coalini? 
stations  and  no  great  lines  of  subsidized 
steam  ships  as  I  he  English  have,  which 
we  could  take  to  transport  troops  across 
the  Atlantic.  We  could  pocket  the  in- 
sult no  matter  how  great  to  our  people 
nr  flag.  If  Germany  had  a  foothold  on 
this  continent  we  might  possibly  be  able 
to  strike  back,  resent  the  injury. and 
protect  our  honor,  but  with  no  such  op- 
portunity for  reprisals,  we  should  find 
the  ocean  too  wide  for  our  guns  and  our 
ships.  On  the  other  hand  neither  Ger- 
many nor  any  other  great  power  without 
territory  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  to 
serve  as  a  base  of  operations,  will  alone 
be  likely  to  break  the  peace.  We  shall 
not  be  likely  to  give  them  provocation. 
Our  mercantile  marine  engaged  in  ocean 
transportation  is  not,  as  yet,  large  enough 
to  tempt  their  fleets.  They  might  de- 
stroy our  coasting  trade  and  devastate 
our  seaports  but  without  a  secure  base 
of  operations  here,  Germany  alone  could 
not  expe  t  to  conquer  and  hold  any  of 
our  territory. 

With  France  it  might  have  been  differ- 
ent had  the  France  of  Louis  Napoleon 
Bucceeded  in  establishing  a  "Latin  em- 
pire" ill  Mexico  under  the  ill-fated  Max- 
imillian.  Mexico  might  then  have 
proved  a  dangerous  neighbor  to  our 
southern  border.  But  that  scion  of  the 
Hapsburgs  found  North  America  a  cold 
place  for  planting  hostile  Latin  empires 
and  sacrificed  his  life  to  the  chimerical 
idea.  The  France  of  Lafayette  and  Carnot, 
Republican  France,  has  always  been 
friendly  to  the  United  States.  It  was 
France  under  the  son  of  the  Dutch  ad- 
miral "Napoleon  the  Little"  that  was  so 
urgent  to  have  England  unite  with  her 
in  recognizing  the  Confederacy. 

RuMsia  a  Friend  in  Need. 

From  Russia,  with  her  immense  army 
and  magnificent  navy,  our  country  has 
nothing  to  fear.  Russia  has  never  made 
war  on  the  United  States,  and,  although 
we  are  neighbors  in  Behring's  Sea,  she 
never  will.  True,  Russia  is  not  a  repub- 
lic and  her  populations  are  not  yet  pre- 
pared for  that,  but  what  Csesar  did  for 
the  civilization  of  the  world  In  pushing 
back  the  frontier  of  barbarism  to  the 
Rhine,  what  Charles  the  Great  did  in 
still  further  carrying  back   that   frontier 


to  the  Vistula,  that  the  descendants  of 
Ruric  have  done  in  subjugating  the 
Mongol  hordes,  which  at  one  time 
threatened  the  very  existence-  of 
European  civilization,  and  in  forcing 
back  the  frontier  of  barbarism 
over  the  Urals  and  across  Siberia  tQ  the 
Pacific  on  one  line,  and  beyond  the  Cas- 
pian and  across  hostile  Turkestan  to 
the  borders  of  Afghanistan  and  India,  on 
another.  Russia  has  more  than  once 
been  our  friend  in  need.  Do  you  remem- 
ber one  time  during  the  war  seeing  a 
Russian  fleet  in  the  Potomac?  That  was 
when  Louis  Napoleon  and  the  Tory  min- 
istry of  England  contemplated  recogniz- 
ing the  Southern  Confederacy  and  it  was 
believed  that  such  recognition  was  in- 
tended to  lead  to  armed  intervention 
against  the  Union  cause.  We  had  enough 
to  do  then  to  fight  the  rebels  without 
having  France  and  England  join  them 
against  us.  Then,  if  any  cause  ever 
needed  a  strong  and  fearless  friend,  ours 
did.  Russia  was  that  friend.  It  is  now 
an  open  secret  that  in  case  Louis  Napo- 
leon and  Tory  England  should  make  a 
hostile  demonstration  against  us  the  ad- 
miral of  the  Russian  fleet  was  to  report 
for  orders  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  rea- 
son of  the  ties  of  kindred,  race,  literature, 
common  history  and  all  that,  we  love  our 
good  cousin  John  Bull  as  we  are  in  duty 
and  sentiment  bound  to  do,  but  when  we 
know  that  he  is  seeking  to  crush  the  life 
out  of  the  republic,  the  armed  Muscovite 
at  our  elbow  is  a  more  "cheering  sight  to 
see." 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  Russia 
ceded  to  us  her  vast  American  possessions 
in  Alaska  and  the  waters  and  islands 
of  Behring's  sea  simply  for  the  seven  mil- 
lions dollars  which  Mr.  Seward  paid  her 
but  I  hazard  the  opinion  that  the  ces- 
sion was  made  not  for  the  paltry  price  we 
paid  but  rather  to  serve  notice  on  all  the 
world  that  in  the  view  of  the  "White 
Czar"  all  the  territory  of  North  America 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean  should  rightfully  be  controlled  by 
the  United  States. 

This  government  sustains  friendly  re- 
lations toward  all  the  other 
American  states.  By  our  main- 
tainance  of  the  Monroe  doctrine 
they  well  know  that  they  obtain  all  the 
advantages  of  a  defensive  alliance  with  us 
with  no  corresponding  risk  to  them- 
selves. 

Kngland  Our  onlv  Probable  Foe. 

Apparently  the  only  source  of  the  dan- 
gers which  may  come  to  us  in  the  shape 
of  war  to  mar  our  eeneral  prosperity  and 
retard  the  wheels  of  our  national  pro- 
gress is  England — England  the  mother 
country — England  our  ancient  foe,  who 
in  two  wars  has  tried  to  cripple  us — Eng- 
land, our  rival  in  commerce  and  manu- 
factures,   who    taking  advantage  of  our 


s 


AMKKICAN    UNITY    Oil    liRITISIl    DOMINATION: 


dire  dl8trei4fl  while  engaged  in  a  life  and 
death  Htruggle,  helped  with  Confederate 
ramH  and  cruisera  to  destroy  our  ocean 
commerce,  supplanting  it  with  her  own, 
and  now  by  her  subsidiEed  lines  across 
the  continent  and  on  the  Pacific,  is  using 
every  effort  to  get  control  of 
our  internal  trans-continental  trafflc. 
Has  England  the  means,  has  she  the 
purpose,  on  ocoaiion,  to  make  war  on 
this  country? 

In  these  days  of  modestly  lowering  the 
American  flag  for  fear  of  intrusion  upon 
the  ancient  domain  of  our  great  rival, 
or  through  hesitation  as  to  the  ability  of 
this  nation  properly  to  rule  a  few  thous- 
and Hawaiians,  or  to  bold  on  to  the  little 
possession  when  once  acquired,  it  is  well 
to  consider  for  a  moment  the  position 
and  attitude  of  Great  Britain. 

"There  is  no  timid  or  incompetent 
race,"  says  a  recent  able  writer,  <<on 
whom  she  has  not  rained  a  storm  of 
bullets  in  the  name  of  liberty  and 
progress.  In  Asia,  today,  with  her  bay- 
onets steadily  pointed  at  the  native  and 
rightful  poBsesLors  of  the  soil,  she  holds 
India  and  Punjab,  Burmab  and  the 
B^ngoon,  the  Malayan  Peninsula,  Ceylon, 
Singapore,  Hong  Kong  and  Rowloon, 
while  every  day  her  intention  to  beir.e 
Canton  and  to  overrun  Corea  is  manifested 
in  umistakable  acts  of  aggression.  At 
Bombay,  at  Calcutta,  at  Ceylon,  at  Singa- 
pore, at  Labuan  and  at  Hong  Kong  she 
maintains  naval  and  coaling  stations 
from  which  she  keeps  the  half- civilized 
natives  of  Southern  Asia  forever  familiar 
with  the  black  muzzles  of  her  guns  and 
the  ominous  odor  of  her  powder. 

In  Africa,  with  Egypt  curbed  and 
fettered,  and  both  sides  of  the  Arabian 
Gulf  garrisoned,  with  a  dozen  groups  of 
little  islands  in  the  Arabian  sea  and  a 
dozen  more  in  the  Indian  Ocean  protec- 
ting her  route  to  India  and  the  South 
Seas,  she  holds  four  times  the  territory  of 
the  British  Islands.  By  making  con- 
stant wars  on  the  natives,  she  "protects" 
the  entire  country  drained  by  the 
Nile,  save  only  where  it  runs  through  the 
desert. 

There  are  souls  to  save  and  ignorant 
minds  to  teach  in  the  deserts  as  around 
the  water  courses,  but  no  ivory.  British 
civilizing  processes  keep  closely  to  the  re- 
gion where  ivory  can  be  obtained  ooinoi- 
dentally  with  the  progress  of  religious 
and  other  reforms.  In  the  south  of 
Africa  English  possessions  include  Bech- 
uana  Land,  Natal  and  Cape  Colony,  a  ter- 
ritory three  times  as  great  as  the  thirteen 
original  states.  Zanzibar  and  Mauritius 
also  owe  allegiance  to  England,  and  on 
the  west  coast,  with  outposts  at  Ascen- 
sion, St.  Helena  and  Ichabod  Islands. 
English  dominion  reaches  over  Canara 
land,  the  gold  ooast  and  Layos,  Sierra 
Leone  and  Bathnrst  with  vast  interior 
stretchea  on  both    sides   of    the    Niger. 


Around  this  continent  and  including  the 
mighty  defences  at  Olbralter,  Malta  tQd 
Aden,  the  British  flag  files  atjove  eleven 
naval  and  coaling  stations  where  garii. 
sons  and  stores  are  maintained. 

In  the  South  sean  BritiHh  empire  spreidi 
over  immense  oceans  and  holdss  altnogt 
every  dot  of  land  that  rises  above  them, 
With  Australia,  almost  equal  in  area 
and  productive  capacity  to  the  Uuited 
States,  as  the  baee  of  power,  it  includeai 
part  of  Borneo,  a  part  of  New  Guinea, 
Tasmania,  New  Zealand  and  no  Ichb  ttian 
twenty-five  groups  of  smaller  islands  to 
the  south  and  west  of  Hawaii,  besides 
Canada,  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  and 
the  Arctic  lands.  English  dominion  on 
and  near  the  American  continent  is  ex- 
erted over  the  Bermudas,  the  Batiamaa 
Jamaica,  the  Belize,  BritiBh  Guiana 
Trinidad,  Barbadoes,  San  Lucia  and  'the 
Leeward  Islands. 

When  Canada  co.-ifederated  in  1867.  tlie 
fortress  of  Halifax  vas  in  a  condition  ol 
decay  and  could  net  have  resisted  the 
guns  of  a  third-cltss  gunboat.  Today 
Halifax  is  inpregnabls.  It  is  an  imperial 
military  and  naval  station.  The  nucleus 
of  an  army  is  kept  wiv.hin  its  fortresses. 
which  are  mounted  with  the  most  formi- 
dable batteries.  Bermuda,  three  days 
out  from  Charleston  and  New  York,  is 
equipped  with  fortifications,  which  are 
described  in  the  'Colonial  Year  Book'  as 
the 'most  perfect  and  formidable  inlhe 
world.'  A  submarine  cable  connects  the 
fortress  at  Bermuda  with  Halifax.  It 
was  laid  only  two  years  ago,  and  it  cost 
11,500,000,  a  sum  ten  times  greater  than 
the  exchanges  between  the  group  and 
Canada.  In  the  reef  enclosed  harbor  ol 
Bermuda  Great  Britain  has  a  ship  build- 
ing plant,  a  dry  dock  that  will  lift  her 
heaviest  seagoing  battle  ships,  a  coaling 
station  and  a  vast  system  of  earth  works, 
mounted  with  the  heaviest  guns.  Great 
Britain,  since  1867,  has  immensely 
strengthened  the  garrison  at  Kingston 
and  created  an  entirely  new  one  in  the 
harbor  of  Castries,  San  Lucia.  Taking 
Halifax,  Bermuda,  Kingston  and  Castries 
together,  a  chain  of  offensive  fortifica- 
tions is  constituted  within  three  days 
reach  of  every  American  Atlantic  sea- 
board city.  Each  is  mounted  with  guns 
of  the  most  effective  modern  type.  Each 
is  capable  of  equipping  vessels  for  sea  at 
an  instant's  notice.  A  cable  connects 
them  all  with  each  other  and  with  London. 
A  telegram  from  the  British  foreign  of- 
fice could  send  vessels  of  war  from  Hali- 
fax to  Boston  in  twenty- four  hours,  from 
Halifax  to  New  York  in  two  days,  from 
Bermuda  to  New  York,  or  Washington, 
or  Baltimore,  or  Charleston,  or  Philadel- 
phia in  three  day,  or  from  Jamaica  to 
New  -Orleans  in  three  days,  or  from 
Jamaica  to  Greytown  or  Panama  in  two 
days,  and  from  St.  Lucia  to  Panama  or 
Greytown  in  four  days.     On  one  of  the 


AMERICAN    UNITY    OR    HIUTISII    DOMINATION? 


9 


Falklund  hlai  '"-  juHt  north  and  eaHt  of 
Capo  Horn,  there  Ib  a  British  coaling  sta- 
tion. At  Sydney  AuHtralia  there  is  an- 
other. There  is  a  third  recently  built 
nrid  equipped  and  splendidly  armed  at 
the  Fiji  iHlands,  and  the  great  de- 
fuiiBCH  at  Enquimault,  from  which  at 
an  hour'H  notice  Huattie  and  Ta- 
coma  could  be  I'lid  waste. 

England  has  guns,  forts,  coast  defences, 
naval  Htations,  the  largest  navy  In  tne 
world,  which  she  intends  to  keep  equal  to 
that  of  France  and  RuMsia  combined,  or 
of  Hny  other  two  nations.  She  has  a 
uriat  many  swift  steamers  for  the  trans- 
portation of  troops  and  munitions  of  war, 
on  her  suhjidized  commercial  lines,  which 
vesHul*  she  can  call  for  at  any  moment; 
more  than  all  this,  she  has  a  foothold  on 
this  continent  such  as  no  other  nation 
haH,  a  prDvince  extending  along  our  un- 
protected northern  frontier  for  three  or 
lour  thousand  miles.  She  has  a  military 
railway  from  Halifnx  on  the  Atlantic  to 
Port  Moody  on  the  Pacific,  intended  to  he 
UHed  in  military  operations  against  this 
country,  and  on  that  account  built  in  a 
(freat  meflsure  from  the  imperial  treasury. 
She  has  free  entry  for  her  fleets  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  through  which  flow  the  waters 
of  the  gnat  lakes.  From  her  fortress  at 
Halifax  she  could  let  slip  a  swarm  of  ar- 
mored cruisers  that  in  forty-eight  hours 
might  ruin  our  coasting  trade,  devastate 
our  Atlantic  coast  and  lay  our  unprotect- 
ed sea  coast  under  contribution.  She 
has  a  siniilur  coign  of  vantage  on  the  Pa- 
cific at  Fsquimault. 

As  for  men  there  once  were  English 
yeomen;  they  no  longer  exist,  and  the 
toilers  in  her  mines  and  mills,  or  the  "ag- 
ricultural  laborer  "  cannot  make  good 
their  place  in  war,  neither  can  she  rely 
for  recruits  upon  such  a  popula- 
tion as  that  of  the  east  end  of  London. 
She  will  call  upon  Scotland  and  Ireland 
and  her  colonies  for  men.  She  has  been 
known  to  hire  Hessians  in  an  emergency. 
Disraeli  once  threatened  Europe  with  the 
8t;poy. 

When  our  ships  rode  the  ocean,  she 
has  even  been  known  to  look  longingly 
to  us  for  help.  In  1852  when  war  men- 
aced England,  her  great  poet  laureate 
Bung: 

"QiRantic  daughter  of  the  West, 

We  drink  to  thee  across  the  flood, 
We  know  thee,  and  we  love  thee  bes' 

For  art  thou  not  of  British  blood? 
Should  War's  m»d  blast  again  be  blown, 

Permit  not  thou  the  tyrant  powers 
To  fight  thy  mother  here  alone. 

But  let  thy  broadsides  roiir  with  ours. 

Hands  all  round! 
God  the  tyrant's  cause  confound: 
T^o  our  dear  kinsmen  of  the  West,  my  friends, 
vnd  the  great  name  of  England,  round  and 
round. 

Oh  rise,  our  strong  Atlantic  sons, 
When  war  against  our  freedom  springs. 

Oh  speak  to  Eng:laud' through  your  guns 
They  can  lie  understood  by  kings." 


I  like  the  sound  of  that,  a  noble  senti- 
ment. In  her  extremity  and  apparently 
without  friends  the  British  lion  <<roar8 
you  as  gently  as  a  sucking  dove."  But 
when  the  hour  of  our  peril  came,  bow 
different  the  tune  which  the  British 
Tories  sung. 

Then  it  was  the  England  that  met  our 
fathers  at  Bunker  Hill  and  Bennington, 
at  Hubbardton  and  Bemis  Heights,  at 
Trenton  and  Yorktown,  at  Lundy's  Lane 
and  New  Orleans. 

Whether  the  rulers  of  England  have 
the  inclinations  to  go  to  war  with  the 
United  States  or  not  they  have  not  an- 
nounced. They  have  the  means  and  their 
acts  speak.  What  England  does  is  ap- 
parent. With  her  fortified  harbors,  her 
military  railways  and  her  armored  ships 
all  in  such  uninvited  proximity,  she  de- 
liberately prepares  for  war.  The  ruling 
party  in  Canada  have  appeared  anxious  to 
precipitate  such  a  contest,  first  by  an- 
noying and  needlessly  harrassing  our 
fishermen  on  the  coast  of  the  maritime 
provinces,  and  later  by  invading  Behring 
sea  with  an  apparently  deliberate  purpose 
of  extermi''  ng  our  fur-bearing  seals. 
Russia  ga\  .s  a  warranty  deed  of  that 
section  and  according  to  Mr.  Lothrop, 
late  minister  to  that  country,  in  the 
event  of  a  trial  by  wager  of  battle 
is  quite  willing  to  be  vouched  in  to 
maintain  her  covenant  of  warranty. 
Another  Russian  fleet  in  the  Potomac 
would  be  more  reassuring  than  to  behold 
the  Englihh  there  again  burning  the 
Capitol  as  they  did  in  the  war  of  1812. 

Canadian  Annexation  Necessary  to  the  Na- 
tional Unfonce. 

If  the  gentlemen  who  manage  the  public 
affairs  of  the  Dominion  succeed  in  bring- 
ing about  war  between  England  and  the 
United  States  it  may  not  prove  an  un- 
mixed evil.  It  might  result  in  securing 
the  independence  of  Canada  from  Great 
Britain.  However  lightly  English  states- 
men speak  of  tbe  subject  of  Canadian  in- 
dependence or  annexation  to  this  coun- 
try as  a  thing  wholly  indifferent  to  the 
mother  country,  they  are  hardly  sin- 
cere. Nobodv  now  believes  England 
will  allow  Canada  to  go  in  peace.  Should 
Canada  make  the  attempt  the  batteries 
aimed  at  us  would  be  turned  against  her. 

Then  again  such  a  war  might  result  in 
the  annexation  of  Canada  to  the  United 
States.  As  a  measure  of  permanent  na- 
tional defence  such  a  result  would  be  de- 
sirable for  us. 

From  the  time  of  the  French  and  In- 
dian wars,  through  the  wars  of  the  Revo- 
lution and  of  1812  even  down  to  the  St. 
Alban's  raid,Canada  has  always  furnished 
the  enemy  a  base  of  operations  against 
us.  England  or  any  other  great  power  in 
possession  of  Canada  can  always  strike  us 
in  flank.  "Esquimault,"  says  a 
British  officer,  <<holds  a  loaded  pistol  at 
the  head  of  San  Fraocisco."    The  thing  is 


10 


AMKKICAN    UNITY    «)H    HIMI  ISM    DOMINATION 


IrkHomo  and  wo  have  endured  It  too  long. 
If  we  bad  only  been  in  a  condition  to  nH- 
Hert  our  rights  wo  Hbould  long  ago  hitve 
dttmandod  of  Urcat  Britain  to  ceaBO  ber 
offenuive  military  preparationB  upon. our 
borders  and  if  she  refused  we  could  then 
have  precipitated  the  war  and  captured 
the  country  before  her  prepHrntions  were 
completed.  It  is  obvious  that  those  offen- 
sive armaments  are  meant  for  us  and  that 
no  other  country  is  their  object.  Eng- 
land, by  the  possession  of  Canada, threat- 
ens the  United  States,  as  by  the  posses- 
sion of  Oibrnltur  sh«  dominates  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  becomes  a 
standing  menace  to  all  southern    Europe. 

As  wo  fought  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union,  so,  in  such  a  war,  our  sons 
would  tight  for  American  unity.  To  par- 
aphrase the  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
when,  as  yet  the  country  was  but  dimly 
conscious  of  the  nearness  of  the  impend- 
ing crisis,  North  America  cannot  remain 
halt  American  and  half  British,  either  it 
will  become  all  American  or  all  British. 
We  inhabit  one  country.  The  line  of 
separation  is  an  imaginary  one — a  fool's 
line,  as  Mr.  Murray  calls  it.  Th>  3t. 
Lawrence  and  the  grpat/ak-^-i  sbould  itt 
only  be  used  by  one  people,  iney  shoulo 
also  be  owned  by  one  power  >pe cannot 
expect  the  sixty-five  millioii», .  ,  r.-.v  L>in- 
try  to  go  over  to  the  five  m^ilicub  of  '_  i- 
ada  and  with  them  become  tributary  to 
the  thirty-eight  millions  of  Great  Britain. 
There  was  a  time  in  1760  wheu  these  two 
countries  and  all  English  speaking  peo. 
pie  owed  allegiance  to  Qreat  Britain  alone. 
For  years  before  that,  during  the  long 
wars  between  England  and  her  colonies 
on  one  side,  and  France  and  her  colonies 
on  the  other,  France  hHd  continually 
threatened  these  English  settlements  on 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  sent  down  bersol- 
diera  and  ber  Indians  to  make  war  on  us, 
to  burn  our  dwellings  and  tomahawk  our 
women  and  children.  We  captured  the 
great  French  strongholds  Louisbourg, 
Quebec  and  Montreal,  and  terminated  the 
power  of  France  on  this  continent.  In 
doing  this  work  we  were  assisted  by  Eng- 
land to  be  sure,  but  our  fathers  furnished 
twenty -five  thousand  men,  by  far  the 
heaviest  contingent.  By  their  action  we 
gained  some  righ*;  to  a  voice  in  the  dis- 
posal of  the  territory  of  North  America. 

In  1760  there  were  60,000  French  In 
Canada.  Their  descendants  now  number 
2,400,000. 

The  marquis  of  Lome,  the  late  Governor 
General,  says  they  will  not  amalgamate 
with  us,  that  they,  separated  by  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  from  France,  and  never 
having  known  England,  will  not  become 
American,  but  preferring  the  cold  climate 
and  poor  soil  of  the  territory  about  Lake 
St.  John,  will  locate  there  and  establish 
a  distinctly  French  Canadian  state,  speak- 
ing only  the  French  language,  and  at. 
tached  to    the    theorios    in    church  and 


state  that  prevailed  in    Franco  under  the 
Bourbon  kings.     In  effect    my  lord  uvi 
thoy  are    incapable  of    progrcHH,  and  in 
this  he    Is    mistaken.      They  do  rcRdllt 
amblgamatu    with   the   AmurlcHn  people 
and  become  Industrious   and  thrifty  clii. 
rons.     Those   living  here  did  tluiir  duty 
In  the   war  for   the    Union   flceonllng  to 
their   numbers.      They  are   fust  arlftlng 
into  the    current    of    American   progress 
and  American    civilieation.      Like  their 
English.  Scotch  and    Irish    neighborg  in 
the  Dominion,  thoy  like  the  wugos  wtiich 
they  can  cam    under   the    star   Hpnngled 
banner;  and  of  that  2,400,000   of   Frencli 
descent  800,000  or   fully    one- third  have 
already  crossed    the   border  and    united 
their  individual    f»)rtunes    with  thosw  ol 
the  Great  Republic,  a  method  of  Rnnexa- 
tion    thus    far     mutually    aavanlHgeous. 
Besides  the  French,   Canado   coniairiH  in 
round    numbers  a    quarter    of    a  million 
Germans,    as    many  more    Scotch  and  a 
million   each  of  IriHh    and    EngliHb.    01 
these  many    ore    outwardly    loyal  to  the 
British  connection  becsuse  they  think  it 
will  continue,  but    in   their   henrts  their 
ideal  is  to  belong  to  the   great  American 
commonwealth  and  partake    of  its  pros- 
perity.    The  ancestors  of   many    of  thera 
U')W  living  in  Nova  dcotia.    New    Bruns- 
v/lck  and  Ontario  once     lived   in  Massa- 
rjhusetts  and  New  York.     They,  too,  are 
coming  every  day  to   better  their  condi- 
tion.    These  people   make   good  citizeoB 
and  after  annexation  in  half  a  generation 
will    b-jcome   thoroughly     Americanized. 
Self  perservation  is  the   first    law  of  na- 
ture and  of  nations,  and  in    obedience  to 
that    law    America    cannot    permit  any 
great  and  hostile  military    p^wer  to   be 
erected  in  Canada. 

Annexation  must  come  and  continental 
unity  will  be  achieved. ^  War,  if  Canada 
or  England  choose  to  bring  it  on,  will 
hasten  that  result.  I  hd|ve  no  great  con- 
fidence in  the  BtateBmani|hip  of  the'<ripe 
plum"  theory  of  annexation,  (Jiat  Canada 
when  ripe  will  drop  into  the  lap  of  the 
Republic.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
only  by  war  will  it  be  brought  about. 
European  states  unite  only  as  a  result  of 
war,  peaceful  unions  do  not  take  place. 
If  it  must  be  by  war,  the  more  sparse  the 
population  the  less  the  resistance.  »We 
want  no  conquored  Polands"  it  is  often 
said.  Senator  Hoar  says  British  Colum- 
bia contains  about  60,000  inhabitants  or 
less  than  two  wards  of  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton, certainly  not  a  very  populous  Po- 
land. We  want  no  people  within  the 
Republic  against  their  will;  we  want  no 
hostile  territory  adjoining  us  without, 
upon  which  i^ngland  or  any  other  power 
can  hold  pistols  or  point  Krupp  cannon 
at  our  heads. 

If  in  1861  there  was  good  reason  wb:> 
no  rival  nation  should  be  built  up  in  the 
South,  there  is  the  same  reason  now  why 
no  hostile  power  should   threaten  us  on 


AMKHK'AN    l'Nn\'    Olt    IIIMIISII     DOMINATION? 


11 


the  north.  H  it  would  hnvo  loon  n 
htupiil  llii"B  for  this  KiiKliHh  Hponklng 
ptoplc  to  tHtal)llHh  a  now  row  of  cuhtoni 
houstH  from  the  Potoninc  to  the  Kooky 
MountalnH,  bo  now  it  Ih  unwiHo  to  con- 
tinue the  ono  already  cHtabliahid  a  fow 
hundred  miles  further  north.  If  it  was 
worth  the  price  wo  paid  to  preBorve  the 
Union  of  the  people  and  states  from  at. 
Paul  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  Ihon  it  is 
of  vital  importance  to  secure  American 
unity  from  Dulutb  to  the  Uulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  from  tho  Oolden  Gate  to  Bilka 
and  from  the  j)lHce  where  we  are  today  to 
the  Arctic  zone. 

Between  this  country  and  Canada 
separation  leads  to  ignorance;  ignorance 
begetB  hatred;  hatred  will  in  time  breed 
hoHtiliticB.  Thus  far  circumstances  have 
prevented  this  rtsult.  In  spite  of  our 
separation  for  over  a  century — In  spite  of 
the  recent  fooling  with  edge  tools  on  the 
part  of  Canadian  otBcials — in  spite  of  the 
thriata  in  the  Canadian  Senate  that  our 
Atlantic  cities  would  hear  "the  voice  of 
British  cannon"  and  the  intimation  of 
the  London  press  that  behind  Canadian 
cannon  wo  shall  find  British  gun  boats, 
we  have  retained  our  good  humor  and  the 
people  of  both  countries  have  remained 
good  friends.  But  we  cannot  expect  this 
state  of  things  always  to  continue. 

Whenever  England' shall  again  attempt 
to  use  Canada  as  twice  before  she  has — in 
the  Revolution  and  in  1812 — as  a  base  of 
operations  against  this  country  and 
force  the  issue  of  war  upon  us,  our  whole 
people  north  and  south,  cast  and  west, 
will  strike  for  continental  unity  as  the 
only  safe  defence  from  such  an  attack. 
Our  sons,  if  worthy  of  their  sires,  will 
continue  our  work.  While  we  fought  to 
prevent  the  destruction  and  disintegra- 
tion of  the  American  Union,  they  will 
fight  to  add  to  it  and  build  it  up — for 
American  unity — as  did  Robert  Rofers 
and  Stark  and  Washington  and  our  ■■•■a- 
cestors  before  the  Revolution.    Our  sons 


will  completu  what  tho  Revolutionary  he- 
rots  wore  compelled  to  have  unllnishod, 
the  total  emancipation  of  the  North 
Amirican  continent  from  BrllLsh  domin- 
ion. 

Unlof'S,  when  tho  supremo  moment 
comoH,  wc  are  not  better  prepared  for 
defence  than  now,  tho  war  wili  be  un- 
neccHsarily  prolonged  and  our  loss  of 
life  and  trtaHurc  ncfdloKsly  greiit.  Can- 
ada would  be  cruHbed  a^ain  and  a^'aln 
between  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill- 
stones, and,  if  in  tho  end  've  won,  as  I  be- 
lieve we  should,  however  dijupirato  and 
long-continued  the  fighting,  England 
would  come  out  of  the  contest  shorn  of 
her  glory  forever,  Canada  a  part  of  tho 
United  States,  her  other  colonies  inde- 
pendent, Ireland  free  and  India  trans- 
ferred to  the  czar,  whose  "winter  palace" 
would  then  be  found  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bosphorus. 

Comrades,  if  I  have  spoken  to  you  more 
of  tho  future  possible  wars  of  the  Repub- 
lic, than  of  tho  past,  it  is  because  I  look 
upon  you,  not  as  men  whose  work  is  fin- 
ished, but  as  citizens  alive  to  the  welfare 
of  our  country,  who  i.ave  dearly  earned 
the  right  to  a  voice-in  Its  affairs. 

Canada  is  necessary  to  our  national  de- 
fence. If  England  would  have  tho  moral 
support  and  sympathy  of  her  first  born, 
let  hcT  cease  her  display  of  military 
strength  upon  our  borders  and  terminate 
the  standing  menace  of  her  occupation  of 
Canada ;  let  her  deal  fairly  by  us  on  the 
seas  and,  at  least  toward  us,  drop  her  old 
time  buccaneering  swagger.  Sometime, 
sooner  or  later,  England's  hour  of  peril 
may  come.  It  would  be  safer  for  her  to 
trust  the  natural  affection  of  a  proud  and 
powerful  people  than  blindly  seek  to 
fetter  and  bind  the  great  leviathan  of  the 
west  with  her  marine  cables  and  her 
military  railways,  her  battle  ships  and 
her  fortified  strongholds. 

Tho  manifest  destiny  of  this  country  is 
to  control  this  continent. 


